


From Oxford to Svalbard

by ironed_orchid



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Boarding School, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Growing Up, High School, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 08:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17040707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironed_orchid/pseuds/ironed_orchid
Summary: After the events in The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and Iorek are busy rebuilding their own lives, one in Oxford and one in Svalbard. But they think about each other and hope to meet again.





	From Oxford to Svalbard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HopefulNebula](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopefulNebula/gifts).



Part One: Oxford  
Lyra began her first term at St. Sophia's boarding school uncharacteristically shy. As a child in Oxford she had been heartless and autocratic, certain of her superiority over all the children she played with as she led them from one adventure to the next. But she was growing up, and her heart was more open and more bruised than she ever thought possible. She felt the loss of Will keenly, and alongside it the loss of all those friends and allies who had died during the course of what everyone now referred to as Lord Asriel’s War. Although she had travelled to the Land of the Dead and being able to see and say goodbye to Roger, and Lee Scoresby, and others, she missed them. Even her parents, who had been so disappointing in life, had died together, to keep her safe and help free the dead from their dreadful prison.

Having no idea how she could begin to explain any of this to her new classmates, it was both a shock and a relief to find that they did not much care. For while some had lost family in the war, and others had stories of upheaval and confusion, others had seen it all as a great adventure that happened far away, and which did not concern them. Her headmistress, who did know some of Lyra’s story, suggest that if people asked where she had been, Lyra should tell them that she had been travelling with her parents who were explorers and scientists, but who were now dead. This half-truth also helped explain the gaps in Lyra’s education, and meant anyone who asked for details was being insensitive and rude.

As the term progressed, life became routine. Lyra had classes and homework, and some extra tutoring in the evenings to help her catch up on the subjects she understood least. There were girls in her dorm with whom she was friendly, although she could never be as close to anyone in the way she had been with Will. On Tuesday afternoons, she cycled over to the Bodleian where she studied the alethiometer with Dame Hannah, poring through the books where scholars had recorded the levels of meaning for each image. On the first Sunday of the month she attended dinner at Jordan College, and afterwards went to the Masters room where she gave an account of all she had been learning, and sometimes, in the company of this man she had known all her life, she was able to talk a little about the events and people who had so profoundly changed her life.

Part Two: Svalbard  
After the battle where he and the ghost of Lee Scoresby had helped Lyra escape the agents of the church, Iorek turned to the north and made his way home to Svalbard. By Lapland, when the air tasted different, not yet like home, but more like home than it had when he left. At night the Aurora Borealis lit up the sky as brightly as in his youth, but he could no longer see the shape of an otherworldly city in its light. As he swam across the strait to Svalbard, the air and water got colder and colder, and the ice floes more numerous. Things were slowly returning to their natural order.

Iorek rested on Bear Island, a lonely rock about halfway between Svalbard and the mainland, which was home not to any armoured bears, but to many fat seals. He awoke before dawn to the sound of wings and saw three witches and their daemons landing a respectful distance away. The witches laid down their bows and one approached him.  
“Greetings Iorek, king of bears. I bring you news from Serafina Pekkala,” she said.  
Iorek raised himself up onto his haunches. “What news?” he asked.  
The witch told him of how Will had sealed all the windows to other worlds, and that travel between them was no long possible. She explained that his land would become colder again, but that the damage done by the melting ice would take time, possibly centuries to repair. Iorek listened and swore to do what he could to help that process. When she had finished talking, he asked, “And what of Lyra Silvertongue? What becomes of her?”

The witch told him of the great sacrifice Lyra and Will had made by returning to their own worlds, to be separated forever, and that the Master of Jordan College had sworn that Lyra should have a home there as long as she lived. Iorek nodded, knowing that Lyra would be better off with her own kind. He bade the witch to give his greetings to Serafina Pekkala and to tell her that she, and Lyra, would always be welcomed on Svalbard.  


After the witches had departed, he had another meal of seal meat, and plunged back into the ocean. Svalbard was calling, and there was work to be done.

Part three: Oxford  
After more than a year of tutorials reading the books about the alethiometer and its meaning, one autumn afternoon in the Bodleian Dame Hannah Relf asked Lyra if she would like to try to ask the alethiometer a question. Lyra was taken aback, “Do you think I’m ready?” she asked.  
“Perhaps not, but we won’t know until you try,” Dame Hannah assured her. “It may not come as easy as before, but between us we might be able to determine some meaning from the instrument. What would like to ask it?”

Lyra paused, what she wanted most of all in the world was to know whether Will was safe and happy. But she had not asked any questions of the alethiometer since she had stopped being able to read it intuitively and was nervous about whether she'd be able to understand its answer. She cast her mind to her other friends, all scattered far away and like a mountain rising out of the mist, Iorek Byrnison rose in her consciousness. The Master had told her that Iorek had barred all humans from Svalbard, so she had not had any news of him for over a year.  
“Can I ask about Iorek?” she said.

“Of course you may,” said Dame Hannah, who had also thought that Lyra would want to know about Will. “Now, think about Iorek Byrnison and the pictures you should choose to ask your question.” After much deliberating and consulting the guides, Lyra chose the owl for winter and North, the Sun for king, and the anchor for steadfast friendship. She moved the needle to each of the positions and made notes as it swung around slowly, stopping at first at the beehive once, then three times to the tree, and finally five times at the griffin before coming to rest.  
Dame Hannah helped her find the references to each meaning but did not suggest how to interpret them.  
“I think,” said Lyra, “it means he’s working hard and mending things. The tree means shelter, which makes me think he’s building a home. But bears don’t live in houses, at least not since Iofur, so it must mean something different.”  
“Perhaps,” said Dame Hannah, “he’s making a safe home for the bears.”  
“Of course, that’s right! He only wanted to find somewhere safe for the bears to hunt and be bears.” Lyra was relieved, Iorek would not be himself in a house, he belonged in the wild with the ice and the snow.  
“That’s enough for today,” said Dame Hannah. “You’d better go now, or you’ll be late for Hall. When you come next week, we’ll read more about those three symbols and see if they have deeper meanings.”

On their way back to school Lyra asked Pan if he thought her interpretation was right or if there was another meaning beneath it.  
“Can’t it be both?” he asked. “Maybe that’s the simple answer, but we’ll understand it better if we study the symbols and what other scholars have written.”  
“That sounds right, and he’s safe and where he should be, so that’s alright. But I wish I knew more.”  
They came around the corner to see the Hall all lit up and only one or two students still outside. “Oh hurry! We don’t want to be late!” Lyra cried, and Pan scampered alongside her until they reached the porch.

Part Four: Svalbard  
Iorek was out hunting alone on the tundra. Spring had come, and the days were getting longer. By mid-summer, the sun would not set at all. His kingdom was healing but there were still scars. In the winter, the ice and snow covered the land, and it seemed almost as if nothing had changed. But in the summer, the ice in the south melted and it was only the high mountains and the bays far to the north that stayed frozen all year around.

Iorek spent much of his time with the other bears. After the reign of Iofur, the upheavals and their disappointing journey to the south, many of the bears were still disquieted and unsure how to be themselves. Iorek took the cubs and adolescents out on hunting expeditions, he showed them how to build a forge, and how to find and work the meteor iron from which the bears fashioned their armour. Sometimes their parents and other adult bears would accompany him. They told the young ones they were helping Iorek, and he encouraged this, going so far as to have them demonstrate some technique while he told the cubs what would happen next.

Today Iorek was hunting alone. He wanted time to think, but more than that he wanted time to be an adult bear, hunting only for himself. Teaching the cubs had made him wonder what it would be like to be a father. His only attempt at finding a mate had led, through Iofur’s machinations, to his banishment. Since then he had put all thoughts of mate or cubs out of his head. But there was a she-bear whose family had returned after a long campaign in the far east. She was strong and steady, and although she had heard the news of his humiliation and reinstatement as king, she had not been there to witness them. The cubs also made him think of Lyra, who had been only a cub when they first met, but who was so quick to learn and so fierce and eager to fight for her friends. Iorek was not entirely sure how long it took humans to grow, but he felt sure she must be growing up.

Iorek came over the crest of a small hill and surprised a family of arctic hares, who hopped out if his way, but did not run off as the foxes did. The hares were not native to Svalbard, the terrain had always been too harsh, even for them. But perhaps small changes were not so bad if they meant more things to eat. As Iorek wondered about the implications of this, the mother hare looked straight at him, unafraid as if she had never seen a bear before. Her gaze reminded him of Lee Scoresby’s daemon Hester, and he silently resolved never to eat a hare when there was other prey to be had.

He sniffed the wind, and as if on cue the unmistakable scent of reindeer came from the next valley. Iorek broke into a gallop, leaving the family of hares behind him.

Part Five: Oxford  
Exams were over, and in three days when the term ended, Lyra would have the whole summer stretching out before her, filled with endless possibility.  
“Are you sure we won’t be bored?” Pan asked.  
“We never get bored,” Lyra replied, with much more certainty than she felt. “We always come up with things to do.”  
“Yes, but we’re not little anymore,” said Pan. “They start to worry if we stay out too long and they give us those looks if we spend too much time alone in our room.”  
Lyra sighed. Being sixteen was not easy when you were a girl living, even temporarily, in a college full of men. To make matters worse, Dame Hannah was going on a sabbatical, and would not be back until the beginning of Michaelmas Term. Not only did this mean no more tutorials using the alethiometer, it also meant that Lyra would not be able to visit the female scholar and friend who was helping her navigate the path to adulthood as a young woman at Oxford. Some of her school friends had scholars for parents, but even they would be away visiting other family for most of the summer. 

Surprisingly, the Master of Jordan solved both these problems before she could dwell on them further. Lyra was unpacking in her room when his servant Cousins came to ask if she would have tea with the Master at four. “Of course,” Lyra assured him, and changed into one of her best dresses before going downstairs to the Master’s rooms with Pan twined around her shoulders.

“My dear girl,” he greeted her, “I swear you get taller every month. I asked you here because we have a special guest for dinner this evening. A guest who is known to you, so I thought you might like to reacquaint yourselves in private rather than meeting by surprise at dinner.”  
Lyra had thought the two of them were alone in his rooms, but as he spoke, a shadow detached itself from the wall and came to stand before her.  
“Serafina Pekkala!” Lyra exclaimed, and surprised herself by bursting into tears. Serafina embraced her and held her gently until the sobs subsided. The Master, tactful as ever, provided a clean handkerchief and guided them to the sofa where tea and little cakes were laid out on the coffee table. “Please sit,” he said, “I have some matters to attend to, but I will come back soon, and we will all go into the hall together.”  
Lyra and Serafina had much to talk about, and Serafina listened to Lyra’s stories about school and Oxford with as much interest and focus as Lyra listened to Serafina’s tales of the witch clans and the people of the north.

After some time had passed, Lyra asked “What about Iorek and the bears, do the witches have any news of them?”  
Serafina laughed, “Well,” she said, “That is why I am in Oxford. No humans have been on Svalbard since the bears returned, but the witches may visit and carry messages. There are a group of scholars, including some from Magdalen College, who have requested permission to travel there and take anbaric readings. One of my witches was dispatched to ask the bears and she returned with a message that the scholars were welcome if Lyra Silvertongue of Jordan College was in the expedition. On hearing this, I thought that I had better bring the message to the scholars, and to you, myself.”  
“But I’m not a scholar,” Lyra said, realising that it was stupid and obvious even as the words left her mouth  
“Do you really think Iorek Byrnison knows or cares whether you are a scholar or not? What he knows is that you are from Jordan College and that he would like to see you.”  
“Oh,” said Lyra, quietly, though her heart beat furiously in her chest, and Pan’s little claws gripped her shoulders. “Well I’d love to go, if the Master will allow it.”  
“The Master has already agreed,” Serafina explained, “But he insisted that you should be allowed to choose for yourself.”  
“Then yes, of course I want to go.” Lyra said, and they talked more about the journey and what she would need to take with her until the Master came back, and all three walked down to the hall for dinner in the early summer evening.

Part Six: Svalbard

The journey north was long, but uncomplicated, and Lyra got to know several of the scholars and sailors well, in addition to spending her nights talking quietly to Serafina Pekkala about her feelings for Will and about her parents, and how she saw some things differently now that she was older and had time to think things through. “It’s funny,” she said, “You are the first person I’ve seen who was there with me, in the other worlds, and I almost began to believe that it wasn’t quite real life. But I knew it my heart it was all true, it all truly happened.” Serafina listened and asked questions but did not try to tell Lyra that what she thought or felt was wrong. For she remembered being young, and falling in love for the first time, and even though she had been in love many times since, she knew how important it was, and how much it hurt to lose someone.

When their ship arrived at Svalbard, there was nothing but a stone jetty to show them where to dock. The leaders of the expedition, with Lyra and Serafina besides them, went down the gangway to meet a small group of bears who waited for them on the shore. As was customer in the north, Seraphina laid down her bow to show she meant no harm, and Lyra and the scholars held their hand out to show they held no weapons. When the formal greetings were exchanged, a young bear began to show the scholars and sailors where they could set up their tents and supplies.  
“But wait,” said Lyra. “Where is Iorek Byrnison? Won’t he come to meet us?”  
“You must be the one called Lyra Silvertongue,” an old and gruff bear replied, “Come with me and I will take you to Iorek.”  
Lyra exchanged a glance with Serafina and stepped forward. The bear turned to Serafina “She will come to no harm,” he said, and turned to walk away from the shore. Lyra followed him, over some little hillocks to where a stream of fresh water ran from the mountains down to the sea, where Iorek was waiting for her. The old bear nodded once, and having down his duty, turned back the way they had come.

Lyra felt frozen to the spot, but Pan was not afraid and walked up to Iorek and stood on his hind legs to reach his nose up the to bear’s shaggy muzzle. As soon as they touched, Lyra sprang back into life and leap across the distance until she and Iorek were cheek to cheek.  
“Dear Iorek,” she whispered, “I thought I might never see you again.”  
“As long as I live,” he replied, “You will be welcome here.”  
They drew apart and he shook himself. “Do you remember how to ride?” He asked.  
“How could anyone forget!” she said. Then she and Pan were on his broad back and he was racing over the hills and valleys until they came to a small inlet. He paused, at the crest of the hill and said, “There’s someone I want to you to meet.”

And there, playing in the short grass were two polar bear cubs, with their mother watching over them.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like my Lyra came out lonelier than I had intended. Lyra is the sort of person who can make friends wherever she goes, but I couldn't shake the idea that she had lost so much, and that the supportive adults in Oxford would try to fill up her days with normal teenage activities with a heavy focus on school work. 
> 
> But normal for Lyra is flying with witches and riding bears (and incidentally overthrowing the church). So even though she tried to make a new home in Oxford, something was missing until she was reunited with her old friends.
> 
> \---
> 
> Many thanks to my betas <3


End file.
